Jayme Louis Liardi - Revelation: A Return to Virtue

R E V O L T AGAINST THE MODERN WORLD

Maybe you feel defeated or simply distraught in this modern world of degenerate insanity. Many of us maintain a docile decorum whilst living in a comfortable trance of relative normalcy. We allow ourselves to be sedated by the latest gadgets, and programmed by the decadent influences of Hollywood. These distractions keep us pacified, demoralized and reluctant to pursue a life of true nobility.

A w a k e n

This is my story

I left a world of comfortable complacency

Entered the realm of the living

On a quest

To analyze my beliefs

Discover my inner truth

They say we need a revolution

I say we need a R E V E L A T I ON

Question everything you understand to be true

Relentlessly examine established ideas

Meticulously challenge ingrained dogma

Test theories using praxis

Take back your power and awaken the warrior spirit

A r i s e

Perhaps you are ready to wake up. Perhaps you are ready to face the great delusion. Only by virtuous revolt will we stand a chance at combating this

modern moral decay. The ideas, stories, and life experiments in this book are meant to enliven the warrior within to awaken a dormant desire to live with greatness, dignity and honor. Perhaps my story, my struggles, can aid you in the battle for sovereignty.

RETURN YOUR REVOLT INTO V I R T U E

R E V E L A T I O N

A RETURN TO VIRTUE

First published in the United States of America

Published in 2015

Copyright 2015 Jayme Louis Liardi

All rights reserved.

Thank you for supporting me by purchasing an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not duplicating or distributing any segment of the following content without permission by the author.

ISBN: 978-0-9861726-0-1

Printed in the United States of America

Set in Optima

Cover design by Regina Marsh

Cover art by Kimberly Diamandopol

Jayme Louis Liardi is a Long Island native and a graduate of Stony Brook University with a degree in Environmental Humanities and Theatre Arts. While Revelation: A Return to Virtue is his first venture as an author, Jayme plans to further develop his vision and refine the ideas expressed in this book. You can reach him at: or through his website: jaymeliardi.com

For

June A Liardi

Who gave me

Life

Opportunity

Love

and

Louis J Liardi

Who taught me

Conviction

Courage

Confidence

I owe everything to you

My deepest gratitude

To my brothers

who taught me how to fight

To my mentors

whose wisdom I heed

courage I carry

vision I bear

To the masters

the warriors

those that came before me

whose heroism is my inspiration

R E V E L A T I O N

A RETURN TO VIRTUE

JAYME LOUIS LIARDI

C O N T E N T S

Foreword by Marc Fasanella, PhD

Prologue

REVOLT AGAINST THE MODERN WORLD

.I.

YOUTH

Imagine

Music Sex & Games

Indoctrination

Cultivation

.II.

DISCOVERY

The Mystery Meat

Momentum

The Forgotten

Let it Burn

RETURN YOUR REVOLT INTO VIRTUE

.III.

PRAXIS

The Simplifying Challenge

The Stuff Experiment

30 Days of Fear

Wilhelm

.IV.

AWAKENING

Synchronicity

I Am Alive

Afterword by Jesse L Liardi

Epilogue

End Notes

F O R E W O R D

by

Marc Fasanella, PhD

The dawn of the 21st century is a perplexing time to be alive. In the civilized world, we are overwhelmed with information (often conflicting) that purports to inform us what we must know in order to be educated, productive and reasonably healthy citizens. Many of us tune out the babble that tries to tell us what to eat, what to wear, where to live, and how to earn in order to thrive. What is presented to us as the pinnacle of attainment seems calculated to be a bit beyond our reach, anyway. Those of us who see ourselves as progressive pursue the only perceived option and strive to do the least possible harm to ourselves and to others. We exercise when we can, try to eat healthily, live as simply as life s complexities allow, and stay out of debt until an illness or a holiday sets us back. For the most part, we follow the herd around us, struggle to keep up with the necessities of daily life in the technology-oriented, wage and credit based, consumer culture that has become the snare of modern life. It is hard for us to imagine any other way to live, to envision other strategies to cope with our existence. Keenly aware of the creature comforts we enjoy, we muddle through live day to day, week to week, paycheck to paycheck, alternating between frenzied work, boredom, complete exhaustion, and ecstatic celebration. Not sure where we ll end up the forecast we hear informs us that our savings, investments and retirement aren t all that secure, our health will fail, our brains degrade it sometimes seems hopeless, even dystopic. A not-too-distant dystopia is in fact the future most often portrayed in television and film. If we look outside of our civilized existence, much of the developing world is at war living a nightmare that creates millions of casualties, orphans, rape victims and refugees each year as they struggle to have the relative security and standard of living we have.

And then you meet someone like Jayme. He is all inquiry, personal experiment, living life by his ideals. His tenacious questioning of the veracity of the status quo, ability to radically alter the circumstances of his life, and insistence on envisioning aspects of a more utopian existence, is disarmingly fresh. What he proposes in this book would do much to ensure a life of economic simplicity, personal health, and mental clarity for each of us. With an engaging sense of wonder, charmingly humorous outlook, and knack for storytelling, Jayme communicates his insight, and inspires and empowers us to reflect on our notion of ourselves, our way of life, our plans for our future. Reading REVELATION: A Return To Virtue, is an uplifting lesson on reflection and praxis shared through a personal journey. This book proclaims, challenges, motivates, and models. It is an important contribution to a swelling tide of independent thinking that just might lift humanity out of the muck and mire of a dispiriting age of delusional commerce.

P R O L O G U E

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore, Dream, Discover.

Mark Twain

January 2013

I am talking to my half-naked self in the middle of a rural road in Keaau Hawaii. I am exuberant now that the sun has come out in this jungle, and for whatever reason I decide to talk to myself. I begin to ask myself questions like what do you want in life? and what makes you unique? I spend two hours wandering the gravel roads talking to myself, working out the pent-up frustrations of a desire that has been building since childhood the desire to make an impact in this world is surfacing and I am riding the wave. Just as the surfer places all his faith in the wave, knowing that if he just follows its path of motion he will be successful; I too, am riding my own wave, and it is exhilarating.

How did I get here?

How did I get to be working on a farm in the heart of the rainforests of Hawaii?

How did I go from couch potato 12 year old to 100-mile-bike-ride completing athlete at 22?